Palo Alto, Calif. – StoneHouse Marketing Services, a pioneer in the use of digital print for card applications, has extended its loyalty marketing program and ID card offerings with the installation of an HP Indigo 7000 Digital Press.  

The new press, with its 120 pages-per-minute letter-size, four-color, printing speed and 3.5- million color page monthly duty cycle, substantially increases the Norman, Okla., company's capabilities for producing loyalty cards, health care ID cards and gift cards.

Generating growth with offset-quality personalization
Founded in 1995, StoneHouse Marketing Services began moving from two-step variable laser imaging on offset-printed cards to turnkey, one-pass variable-data printing with the installation of its first HP Indigo press in 2004. Now, with the firm's three HP Indigo press 5500s running every day, the HP Indigo 7000 adds needed capacity to pursue new opportunities.

"StoneHouse Marketing Services first looked at the HP Indigo 7000 with the idea that it could take on some of our traditional litho work," said Jeff Tucker, President, StoneHouse Marketing Services. "What it has done instead is help us continue expanding our business into new markets as we extend our competitive advantage in top-quality, personalized card and loyalty programs."

Substrate compatibility yields big turnaround time advantage
The company takes full advantage of HP Indigo presses' ability to produce durable, offset-quality printing on Teslin, which can deliver more attractive and durable cards than PVC substrates.

Teslin, like many synthetic substrates, requires substantial drying time when printed on an analog offset press. In contrast, Teslin sheets come off the HP Indigo press dry and ready for lamination and die-cutting, significantly improving turnaround time.

Loyalty program brand building with a personal touch
In January 2008, StoneHouse Marketing Services entered a new market after meeting with a leading firm in the hospitality industry. As the owner of several well-known hotel brands, the firm recognized that higher levels of personalization in its loyalty rewards program could drive profitable growth from repeat guests.

StoneHouse Marketing Services was up to the challenge. The company partnered with its client's web design agency, creating an integrated web-to-print workflow that allows loyalty rewards program customers to personalize their membership cards.

Loyalty program members now choose a scenic image from their favorite hotel property for their cards. The cards also include the program member's name and member number.

In addition to printing the loyalty cards, StoneHouse Marketing Services' HP Indigo presses produce personalized carrier letters for the card mailer. Printed on uncoated paper, the carrier letters also include the member's scenic image selection and a personalized note from the firm.

"In the data-driven loyalty marketing world, personalized digital printing can be the key application that connects consumers with a brand," said Jan Riecher, vice president and general manager, Graphics Solutions Business – Americas, HP. "StoneHouse Marketing Services chose the best printing platform to offer this level of marketing excellence – the proven, high-quality and highly productive HP Indigo 7000 Digital Press." 

Fast, flexible ID card production in offset-quality color
For the company's health care ID business, HP Indigo presses streamline production of personalized cards while also meeting stringent design requirements for the high-quality reproduction of thousands of different employer and insurance provider logos.

Designed to significantly increase the break-even point of digital compared with offset, the HP Indigo 7000 is an ideal press for producing large numbers of static jobs with run lengths ranging from one copy into the thousands, as well as variable-data work requiring the "every page is different" capabilities of digital.

The HP Indigo 7000 also offers the widest digital color gamut available with 4-, 6- or 7-color PANTONE-licensed emulation including Pantone Goe, as well as off-press mixing of true spot colors. In addition, the HP Indigo 7000 Digital Press incorporates HP DreamColor Technologies, a certified system of color technologies and sciences that makes it easy to produce accurate, predictable and consistent color across a series of digital color devices.

An HP SmartStream Production Pro Print Server that StoneHouse Marketing Services installed with its new press is a high-performance raster image processor (RIP) and off-press digital front-end solution that shifts workflow tasks from the press room to the prepress department, where they can be efficiently managed in a centralized environment.